sprouting, brewing, fermenting, growing, culturing...a tour of the living foods in our home

This post is linked at Real Food Wednesdays from Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

As I loftily surveyed my kingdom last night (the kitchen/living room/hallway is as much as I can see at once, but it was quite impressive), I thought fondly about the abundance of living things that are growing, brewing, sprouting and fermenting themselves in my home.

It's kind of like having children. I coo at them, talk about how cute they are (those little sprouted tails! adorable!), pamper them, make sure they are at the right temperature, and occasionally put them to 'bed' (in the fridge).  (I also eat them, which is where the children analogy kind of breaks down.) It is a joy to see how foods can, with a simple set of circumstances, transform themselves into another entity altogether....something that is highly nutritious and tasty too. There is a tiny universe of microbes, enzymes, proteins, and nutrients all swirling around, underneath my nose! Cultivating living food is a world of wonder and amazement to me.  And it's so rewarding to see things happen like they should! So I thought I would give you a little photo tour of the living foods currently residing with the Moores.

Let's start with something simple (and not frightening).  Sprouting is fun, easy, and a very simple way to increase the nutritional value of the seeds, legumes and grains we put into our bodies. It's my understanding that without soaking or sprouting, the nutrient 'packet' in grains and seeds (the fuel for the seed to begin growth) will pass through our bodies unused.  During soaking or sprouting, the nutrients are activated/released, and become available for our bodies to absorb and use.

Lentils...

...pinto beans (I think I need to let these grow a little more)...

...and chick peas! These haven't totally sprouted yet, but you can see the little pointy ends where the tails have begun to squirm their way out.

What do I do with these things? Use them the same way I would the unsprouted versions. Just the other day I made "sloppy joes" but used 2/3 sprouted lentils and 1/3 beef.  It was incredibly tasty, and we got the nutrition of both the meat and the lentils.  And since good meat is so pricey, I'm all for the frugalness the lentils offer.  We ate it on plain bread, openface. SO good. We both agreed it should go into our regular rotation! Here's my recipe inspiration for my sloppy joes. 

The Return, and Discovery

Since coming back from this trip I've begun to understand why some people say you need "a vacation from your vacation."  Our trip was structured and fast-paced, so we didn't have much time to relax. We were up early every day (which, if you know us, is really saying something) because we had so many things to see and not enough time. 


Oh...and check out a good assortment of additional photos here, on my photo blog!  (I sorta tried to put different photos on the blogs, because different people read them, but there is some overlap.)


For the first full day of our trip, we drove through the south part of Wyoming and headed north into the Tetons. I was pretty stoked to see the Tetons, and let me tell you why. When I was young and bored, I had a stamp collection. Quite the hobby it was. One of my all-time best stamps was a longish one with a painting of the Tetons on it! The sunset was glowing on those tall, jagged, craggly peaks, sharp like razors slicing through the clouds. The Tetons always looked so much better than the Colorado mountains I was used to seeing all the time. Those ones were like dull butter knives, soft and swaying in shape. But the Tetons...now THOSE were some serious mountains.


As we got close to the park, I still hadn't seen them, even from a distance. I was looking SO hard for them. Then, just for a split second as we wound our way through the town of Jackson, I saw them jutting through the green butter-knife hills, sharp as they were on the postage stamp...

This is what they looked like when we got closer.  Aren't they absolutely breathtaking?

This Isn't A Food Blog...

...But it might as well be, from what's been on my mind lately.  :)  And on my blog reading list, which is mostly home design and food blogs! So fun!

Most of my experiments lately have been with very basic food staples, which I'm rather used to buying at the store, but I can actually very easily make myself. Bread, salad dressing, pitas, yogurt...and today, granola. I know I may not always have the time or energy to do this, but it feels good.

Yesterday, as many of you know, I made granola for the first time.  I looked at a lot of recipes before I set out on my own, so I'm going to tell you what I did, what I didn't do, what I did wrong and what was awesome.  Then you can take what you want from those things and hopefully apply them correctly in your own crunchy endeavors.  (I forgot to take pictures during the process, but I took a few after the fact...)